Friday, October 29, 2010

Mucus for dinner

The proud parents and their mucus eating fry.

Cichlids are great parents. All cichlid species contribute some degree of parental care, with many extreme examples, such as the mouthbrooders who forgo eating for several weeks while their eggs develop in their mouth.

The Amazonian cichlids known as discus fish (pictured below) secrete mucus from their bodies for their baby discus fish to eat. I wonder what it tastes like?